Path of the Damned
by F.J.A. Campbell
Summary: By order of law, Force users are banned from the planet Othros, but one of them, neither Jedi nor Sith, stumbles upon the evil behind this conspiracy as he tries to protect his daughter from their persecutors. V3.0 coming soon...
1. Dramatis Persone and Prologue

Star Wars: Path of the Damned

Star Wars: Path of the Damned

"... as we forgive those who sin against us..."

Dramatis Personae

Othros:

Othros Government:

Alexander Damien (human male, Othros)

Rebellion:

Ximon (Falleen male, Falleen)

Brett Spade (Human male, Othros)

Kryss Mendia (Human male, Othros)

Roald Crestfall (Human male, Othros)

Melody Spade (Human female, Othros)

Tricia Spade (Human female, Othros)

Kaiburr Empire:

Revan (Human male, unknown)

Joseph Adun (Kaiburr male, Kaiburr)

Ossus Jedi Praxeum:

Luke Skywalker (Human male, Tatooine)

Prologue: An Ocean of Sorrow, an Isle of Joy

Towards the end of the 15 ABY1, the year-long Cold War between the Kaiburr Empire and the New Republic came to a close. An age of peace and prosperity that engulfed the Empire, and all its peoples were finally happy.

However, back home on Othros, things were not as peaceful as they should have been.

After the war, Alexander Damien, one of the masterminds of the Othros Planetary Unification Movement a few short years prior, was elected as the second president of the Republic of Othros. In spite of his initially clean political record and his bordering-on-naïve idealism during the Unification Movement, his true colors began to show once he was elected.

As soon as he took office, Lex struck his first blow into the hearts of Othros's peoples: the implementation of the Othros Equalization Act.

"I believe," Lex announced the day the act was passed, "That for peace to continue to prosper in our beloved planet, its peoples must be fully united to serve her greater glory, and the next step in attaining unity is equality. Imagine…a world where all its peoples are equal, united and broken from the barriers of the selfish illusions of supremacy. No envy, no malice, only peace, order and prosperity for all. This is what I dream for our great planet's future: a unified Othros, which under my humble leadership, will be within our grasp!"

Trimming off all the frilly wording, the OEA basically "took control of all public displays of superiority." In other words, children were not taught to excel in schools, people could no longer be creative or imaginative, and we Force-users could no longer live on the face of the planet without being forced to work for the local government.

On that day, he was met with great applause from the masses, and a decade later he was met with the same applause when he grabbed the power of the senate by declaring a state of planetary emergency in response to the Yuuzhan Vong2 invasion of the New Republic (Interestingly enough, however, the Yuuzhan Vong never came.), thereby making him supreme ruler of all of Othros. In other words, he sold bonds to prisoners, and they bought them as if they were keys. Always the people's man he was…

With the might of the Othros military combined with the superior might of the Kaiburr Imperial Police sent to each of the empire's ends during the Yuuzhan Vong War, Lex had anyone even suspected of "disorder" "dealt with". What followed was a reign of greed and injustice, which almost seemed to have no end. Yes, there may have been order; yes, Othros did prosper economically, and yes, there was even some perverted sense of "peace" in our society, but the cost was far too great.

And with that, justice suffered one of its biggest losses in history.

The Force-users who refused to register were told to vacate the planet within the month the law was made, but some of us decided to act otherwise.

On the night after the law was passed, Tricia, Roe, and I discussed the situation. It was true that I no longer wanted a life of violence after the war, but neither did I want to leave my beloved home. Therefore, I decided to remain on Othros but hide my Force powers that I may be able to live and peace.

Tricia decided to do the same and pursuit her medical career, but what disturbed me was Roald's course of action. He decided to take the low road and remain on Othros to rebel against the new order.

Because of this, Roe went into hiding, and, though I didn't oppose his choice, at first, I didn't join him either. In fact, I thought that he chose the worst possible thing to do given the situation, but what really disturbed me was that in spite of the sheer stupidity of his decision, deep down, the warrior within me wanted to join him on the front lines, still craving the thrill of battle.

However, something held me at bay.

Since that night, there were a lot of crazy things I wanted to do, but the same irresistible force kept me from doing them. That force came in the form of a little girl who stayed awake each night waiting for me to come home safe and sound.

When Faith died, she left me one thing: her baby sister who entered her life just half a year before she passed away. How she was able to hide her from me for those six months still eludes me, as does what she was thinking when she made the decision to leave her precious sister in my custody. I had no desire to take the responsibility Faith left me with, but I did so nonetheless if only in honor of her memory.

Or at least that's how I felt at first.

Sometime after the war ended, I tried to teach the baby how to speak. , After teaching her the basics, I'd simply let her go on and on, pointing to objects in her room and saying what they were with just a little help from me.

One day, she was doing her usual pointing routine when something happened that caught me off-guard: Her finger ended up pointing in my direction.

"Da-Da?"

I paused upon hearing the question the baby seemingly asked me. At that point, I was certain that I was going to raise her, but at the same time, I didn't feel like being called "dad" for the rest of my life. Besides, she had the right to know about her real family.

"No," I answered shaking my head, "I'm Brett. Breeeett."

"B-b-brett?"

I nodded, and for a moment, she giggled happily, but then her inquisitive look returned as her finger moved from me to her.

At that moment, it hit me.

_I never gave her a name!_ I said in my head as I mentally kicked myself.

Faith didn't leave her name with me either, and whatever that name was, along with so many other things, died with her. Looking back, naming the baby was probably one of the first things I should've done when I found her, but I guess I just wasn't comfortable with naming a child that wasn't mine.

Still, I was going to correct that mistake.

Not knowing where to begin, I looked at her sister for inspiration, but all I found were memories I wasn't prepared to relive. Amidst it all, though, one thing managed to stick out: a song. I couldn't make out the words; it was as if the lyrics were buried under the beauty of the singer's beautiful voice. All there was was…

"Melody,' I said, "You're Faith's Melody."

"M-m-me-me-mel…" she tried to pronounce.

It took her some time before she got it right, but soon she did.

"Melody!"

"Yeah," I said nodding my head in approval, "Melody."

Upon seeing my approval, little Melody smiled, and for the first time in quite a while, I did too.

Footnotes:

Stands for After the Battle of Yavin. System of time used by the New Republic.

An extragalactic race that invaded the galaxy circa 25 ABY. (First Appears in Star Wars: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore.)


	2. Chapter 1: Fly Away

Chapter 1: Fly Away

Now, I'd love to say that Mel and I were inseparable when she was growing up and that neither of us kept anything from each other, but aside from the earlier being true for the first few years of her life, that pretty much wasn't the case. I also wish I could say that during my time under the OEA, I led a simple life worthy of little notice, but that wouldn't be true either.

Though I didn't join Roe's foolhardy crusade, neither did I take the OEA lying down. As soon as I could pool the resources, I bought an old printing press, and there, I birthed The Dove, which at the time was a small publication criticizing the Damien administration and its violations against human rights, particularly the OEA.

At first, I thought I'd be constantly on the run while publishing the paper, but I guess Lex decided to leave me alone, and that allowed what started out as a one-man paper to grow into a legitimate publication. People all over Othros flocked to work with The Dove (no pun intended) with one sole purpose in their hearts, which was to remind Othros of how she once was in her days of glory and how she should be forever: free. As time passed, our writers grew by the dozens, our readers grew by the millions, and I quickly became editor-in-chief of planet's best selling periodical.

However, as all good things come to an end, after thirteen years of life, so did The Dove.

I remember the day well since it was on the night of Melody's grade school graduation ceremony. I was so proud of her as I watched her go up on stage and get her diploma and medals (She graduated with honors.), and I was just as proud of her when she chose to be simple and celebrate the event by eating in our favorite burger place with just the two of us instead of doing so in some expensive restaurant with a whole slew of people as most do.

One of the biggest faults I recall ever committing in my life was failing to tell Melody about her real family. She did know that she was adopted, but I felt she had to know how she ended up with me, and more importantly, she had to know how Faith had died. I planned to make up for my negligence that night, though, so after laughing about how she almost left her diploma on her seat before we left, I got serious.

Within a few minutes, I was able to tell Melody most of what I knew. I never met Faith's parents, so what I told Melody about them was a bit limited, but otherwise, everything from wen I met her to how she died a martyr and how I found Melody was more or less complete.

"There's something I still don't get, though," she said.

"What is it?"

"Why did my sister choose you to take care of me? I mean, it's not that I'd rather have it differently, but still, why you?"

I felt a tear form in my eye as she spoke, but when I moved to wipe it off, there was nothing there.

"Mel, I really loved your sister, and I'd like to believe that she really loved me, so I guess she figured that I would be able to pass that love on to you."

And for the first time in a very long time, I felt myself blush.

"Uhh…not that I love you the way I loved your sister. I loved her romantically; I love you…"

I searched my mind for what to say, and like the teenage girl that she was, Mel pounced on the opportunity to make me blush even more.

"So how do you love me, Brett?" she asked sweetly.

_How did I love her?_

It definitely wasn't what I had with Faith, but back then, I didn't think it felt like a fatherly kind of love either.

But thankfully (at the time), I was saved from my frantic soul-searching by a loud ring.

"Yes," I said in relief. (Whether I did so accidentally or purposely, I'll never know.)

Mel just laughed at my silliness as I went to answer the call, but that didn't keep me from trying to get the last word in.

"I love you; that's that."

It was a pretty lame retort, but a good last line since I wouldn't say anything to that effect to Mel again for another three years.

"What is it?" I asked on the line.

"Sir!" the guy on the other side said loudly, "It's horrible! There are soldiers surrounding the press. They're demanding that we evacuate the building before they burn it down!"

"What? Under whose authority are they doing this?"

"They say their orders came from the president himself. What do you want us to do, sir?"

"Try to stall, but otherwise, do as they say. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Not waiting for his response, I hung up and got on the move. I was already at the door when I noticed that Mel was staring at me, wondering what was going on.

"Something's up. I'm going to the printing press," I explained, and just as I did on the line, I didn't wait for her response, but I was still able to make out a soft "Be carful" from her before I left.

Damning the planet's relative lack of repulsor technology, I broke just about every traffic rule in existence on my way to The Dove's headquarters, but despite its proximity to my home, I arrived only to see the building on fire.

Without hesitating, I headed straight into the building to see if anything could be salvaged and if anyone was left behind. Sadly, however, everything of use had been destroyed beyond repair, and the only ones left behind were smoldering carcasses whose former inhabitants' last memories of life in this realm were of chaos, pain, and fire.

"Idealistic fools," I heard a voice say, "They always make things so much more difficult than they need be."

And seemingly out fire, I saw Lex's dark figure lurk towards me.

"Aren't you going to ask why I'm doing this?" he asked.

"Not really; the answer to that is obvious," I replied, trying to keep my cool, "My question is: Why now? You could've done this right when I started publishing the paper; I would've preferred it if you had, in fact. Less people would've been hurt that way."

"What can I say? Your writing entertains me," he said with a smile, "But you know, too much of a good thing is bad. Your little paper was getting too big, and more importantly, too influential. Roe's rebellion has doubled in size each year after The Dove went worldwide, and as amusing as it is to play with my other old friend, I don't like him getting an unfair advantage."

"I see," I said, "I'm surprised you came all the way here to do your own dirty work, though. Isn't the president's safety a top priority?"

"A little fire can't hurt the likes of us, and I wouldn't pass up the chance to talk to my old master."

"So I suppose you'll be taking me away now, right?"

"I could, but what I'd rather do is make life hell for you while you're here."

"So what do you want?"

"I want you to join me, of course."

"You're as stupid as I left you, Lex. If I had any interest in joining you, I would've the moment you took over."

"I didn't think you would," he said, showing but the faintest bit of disappointment, "So leave then. You know what the OEA requires. It'd be easier for everyone that way."

"What about Melody?" I asked, "Will any harm come upon her?"

He stepped back, looking almost offended by the question.

"Brett, Faith might've been your lover, but she was already a close friend of mine before she even met you. Just as I'd never harm her, I'd never harm her sister or anyone else of her blood needlessly."

Deciding to ignore that last word, I pressed on.

"So if I leave, you won't touch her?"

"I swear. I'll even let Tricia stay too, just so someone can protect her. It's a pretty good deal, if I may say so myself."

I paused and considered his offer.

"I'll think about it," I said finally.

Despite the anti-climactic response, however, Lex just smiled.

"You do that, Brett," he said, "But remember that today I just spared you instead of taking advantage of this situation before me. I wonder…Is it mercy, or am I simply setting you up for a far greater fall?"

"I think we both know the answer to that."

"Oh, I think only one of us does," he said, his smile growing even wider, "Goodbye, Brett, and for your sake, I hope I never see you again."

And walking back into the fire, the same way he arrived, he made his leave.

As I pondered what had just transpired, I heard a noise. It clearly wasn't human, but it definitely sounded like something alive. It was then that I noticed a birdcage near the front desk with three doves inside that seemed miraculously spared from the flames. The sight of the cage shattered any doubts Lex might've planted in my mind as I remembered an image from long ago.

I released the doves from the cage but before setting them free, I picked up a pen and some pieces of paper I found and began to write. To the first dove, I gave a letter to Tricia, telling her what had transpired and to take care of Melody, to the second, I gave a letter to Roe, telling him that I finally accepted his offer to join the rebellion, and to the last, I gave a letter to Lex, in which I wrote a short old saying in Othros's ancient tongue.

'Even a bird is free to fly.

Cage it, and it cries.

And its cries will be heard

In every part of the world.'


	3. Chapter 2: Brotherhood

Chapter 2: Brotherhood

I didn't go home that night. I could've, but then, I had thought that doing so could only result in a teary goodbye, which would've only hurt Mel even more. I now realize, however, that the only person I had been sparing from any hurt was me.

By dawn the following day, Roe and I had already agreed on a place to meet, and right as the sun rose, I was standing amidst the remains of an old school. Now just another victim of Lex's pyromania, some twenty years ago (though it feels so much longer than that) three young but idealistic boys met there for the first time. Their names were Alexander Damien, Roald Crestfall, and Brett Spade.

Our secondary education days came at the heels of what the people of Othros called the Extraterrestrial Revolution, though those of the intergalactic community know the event as the first encounter between the Kaiburr Empire and the New Republic.

For the socially-ignorant, the Kaiburr Empire was formed tens of thousands of years before the formation of the Old Republic and is the known-galaxy's oldest lasting sovereignty. The Kaiburr are amphibian-like bipeds with four-digit hands and two digit feet. They have no noses, instead absorbing sustenance through their smooth semi-permeable skin. They also have no mouths, vocal chords, or any speech-related faculties. Their species has an average midi-chlorian count of 7,000, among the highest in the galaxy, and thus, the majority is capable of at least average telepathy, making those with low counts equivalent to mutes in their society. Perhaps their most unique quality, though, is their immunity to senescence. Due to this unending cell division, only external factors such as disease and injury can cause Kaiburr death, resulting in the race's high average lifespan with the oldest among them in their 1,000's.

Because of their galactic seniority, for lack of a better term, they've taken it upon themselves to carry the responsibility of being the "nurturers" of other budding civilizations, keeping track of their development without actually involving themselves with the said species directly. They also keep primitive planets from encountering other, more advanced civilizations to allow the planets' development to flow naturally.

This last part of the Kaiburr's self-imposed responsibilities is what triggered the ER, as well as the conflict that arose between the Kaiburr Empire and the New Republic.

A group of New Republic explorers, among them a Jedi, stumbled upon Othros because of a hyperdrive malfunction. Whether that malfunction was due to the "will of the Force," tampering by the Jedi who was allegedly made part of the exploration group to investigate an "unknown planet strangely strong in the Force" (the explanation of many anti-Jedi conspiracy theorists) or simply luck reeking havoc remains to be seen, but whatever the cause, the vessel ended up in the Lumina System and headed straight for the most civilized planet in the system: Othros. However, the Kaiburr, protective as they are, shot the vessel down without warning, but before being blasted into oblivion, some of the vessel's crewmembers managed to flee via the vessel's escape pods, and a few of the pods landed on Othros.

The pandemonium that ensued afterwards was academic.

To make a long story short, the people of Othros, after a lot of explanations from these "aliens", finally became aware that they weren't alone in the universe, and the conflict between the Kaiburr Empire and the New Republic took root.

It was near the end of this series of chaotic events that Roe, Lex and I first met, each with similar ideas on the path Othros ought to take towards the future. We figured (or rather, they figured while I knew) that Othros had to form a planetary government in place of its numerous national governments to be able to have effective relations with the extraterrestrials, and we carried those ideas with us out of school and birthed the very successful Planetary Unification Movement.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of logic, I would eventually learn, behind the Kaiburr's reasoning on letting a planet's development flow naturally. The primitive mentality of most of Othros's peoples was too underdeveloped to run a planetary government, leaving the her vulnerable to greedy and corrupt leader, namely our "brother" Lex.

I don't know why Roe or I didn't see it earlier, but Lex had only gotten involved with the PUM to place himself in a position where he'd be able to take over Othros with ease, and after presumably waiting for the right crisis to scare the people into accepting his absolute rule, he did. I guess we were both too naïve to see it at the time.

A few weeks later, as he settled into his newly established dictatorship, Lex ordered our old school burned down since it "held him and so many other brilliant minds back during their adolescent years." (In retrospect, the same can be said for most of the government-run schools Lex himself put up.)

It was the first of his many demonstrations of power.

In truth, Roe and I once did agree that the school was holding us back, but maturity only skipped Lex, and the two of us were deeply saddened by the loss of the school. Guiltily though, I couldn't help but laugh a bit as my old alma mater went up in flames since Lex always joked about seeing the school burn when we were kids, while Roe and I never took him seriously.

Moral of the story: Always take a crazy guy seriously.

Speaking of stories, though, it seems I've digressed too far from the main one.

Roe was always one who appreciated life's ironies, so I wasn't too surprised when I saw him sitting at our group's old table, which he had refurbished to make it look as it had all those years ago, at the school's cafeteria.

He was more than a little on the chubby side when I first met him, and he surrendered several inches in height to me at the time, but by the time the Cold War had come and gone, Roe and I had about the same frame, except for the multiple layers muscle Roe had over me. His massive frame, I now notice had been shrunken a bit by the toils of running a war, but he still looked like he could snap a common man in half with his bear hands.

"It's beautiful, how things come together," he said once I had sat down, "The last of our great triad has finally surfaced."

"What can I say?" I replied, "I'm back."

"Indeed" he answered, "And I have a coming back present for you."

Casually, he rolled a familiar cylindrical object from his side of the table to mine.

"You told me to hold on to this when I left, but given the circumstances, I think it's time to give it back to you."

Not replying, I grasped the ebony hilt, taking in the sensation of once again having its comforting weight in my hand. Then, I flipped a switch on it and sent a beam of sunset orange energy, shining as brightly as ever, springing out, accompanied by the weapon's signature snap-hiss ignition noise.

Sighing in satisfaction, I switched it off and clipped my old lightsaber to my belt.

"Thanks," I said finally, "You don't know how much I've missed that thing."

He smiled in reply.

"Welcome back, brother."


	4. Chapter 3: Mending the Broken

Chapter 3: Mending the Broken

Three years had passed since I joined the rebellion, and in that time, my skills (along with a bit of nepotism on Roe's part) bagged me the position of special ops head. About a year in, I also got myself a new apprentice in Kryss Mendia, a frighteningly young boy about Melody's age.

His grandmother, Aurora Eibarra, was a leader of the political opposition before she had been "dealt with", and Kryss, whose parents along with his grandmother were victims in an "unexplained fire" in the mental institution his grandmother was sent to after Lex was done with her, was set to take up that mantle before Lex dealt with him as well.

Driven by both his grandmother's death and a rare terminal disease he had contracted, Kryss had accomplished all his secondary and tertiary education requirements in the span of six months and was supposed to meet with Roe to join the political branch of the rebellion. However, the shuttle he took to Othros's capital region was "attacked by terrorists", and Kryss was critically wounded as a result of the crash. In fact, if it weren't for his latent Force sensitivity manifesting itself due to his shock, I wouldn't have been able to find him, and he probably would've died right there.

Even then, it took a good six months to treat most of his injuries, but thankfully, the Kaiburr's advanced medical technology and some innovations on my part allowed me to restore most of his body to the point that he looked completely normal on the outside.

More amazing than his recovery, though, was his will. As soon as he was able, he accepted my offer to train him in the ways of the Force, and in a year's time, he managed to master sword technique, basic Force skills, and infiltration.

Now, just two years after an accident that would've killed most, he had completed his first assignment: one of Lex's informants, the one, in fact, responsible for the fate of Kryss's own grandmother.

"I trust there were no complications."

"None, master."

Sensing a problem in his unusually frank answer, I prodded on.

"It's nothing, master," he insisted.

"Oh?" I said, "If it really were nothing, then I probably wouldn't be finding myself deprived of our usual intelligent banter."

A pause.

"She... She was the first person I've ever killed. I have no doubt that she deserved it, master; don't get me wrong. It's just that the feeling is... Chilling."

Understanding completely, I patted him on his shoulder.

"Kryss, sometimes I forget how young you really are. Any guilt or remorse that you feel is completely normal. In fact, it is when you no longer feel these things that you should be afraid; to cross that line is to lose oneself."

"I shall remember that, master," he said, but somehow, I felt that he still wasn't quite satisfied.

"Well, perhaps a little outing will make you feel better," I said, "Tricia's receiving an award for her research on your cancer. I think it might do you some good to rejoin society for at least one night."

"But master, won't my 'rising from the dead' call too much attention?"

"You can always wear a mask. Since the ER, masked men don't seem quite as outlandish as they did back when, what with all the different species you see around here now."

"Hmm..." he thought, "I think I will in that case. When do we leave?"

"The event's tonight, so you're leaving in about an hour. I'll prepare some transportation for you. Have fun."

"Wait, master, you're not coming?"

"I can't. Too much work down here, you know, not to mention that though rising from the dead will call more attention, being a wanted criminal gets more of the _wrong_ kind of attention."

"C'mon, she's _your_ sister. Plus, I bet Melody will be there as well."

"All the more reason not to go," I answered, "Wouldn't want her getting hurt because of me."

"Well, if I can evade detection, then you most certainly can as well," he retorted, "Master, it's been three years. Not seeing her dad for that long is hurting her too; believe me, I know."

_He does, _I thought.

"Fine," I said after a moment, "I'll go."

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honor that I now present the Henning Award for Innovation in the Field of Medicine to Dr. Patricia Spade for her discovery, treatment, and continued research on sub-cellular cancer."

At the back row of the conference hall in Othros Cultural Center, Kryss and I joined the hundreds of people in attendance in a standing ovation for Tricia as she went up the stage to receive her award.

"Umm... Uh... Wow. Thank you very much... I..."

I looked down and shook my head a bit. My sister was never all that good at public speaking.

A few hours later, I managed to catch up with Tricia as she left the building and give her a quick scare for a greeting.

"Are you sure it's safe for you to be here?"

"Yeah, I just can't stay up here for too long. I don't want to give Lex enough time to find me."

She sighed in relief.

"So how was it?" she asked.

"Pretty bad," I answered, "And I'm sure you were up all last night preparing that, too."

"Well, everybody else said I did well, and that's all that really matters anyway."

I made a face as Kryss came to join us.

"Hey, doc."

"Oh my goodness," she said, eyes widened with her hand over her mouth, "Is that...?"

"Yeah," I answered, "He's all better now too, so I'll be taking that award."

"How?"

"Kaiburr Nanotech works wonders."

At that point, she wasn't even looking at me anymore, too busy analyzing with her favorite lab project.

As Kryss and Tricia were chatting, someone else joined us, someone I wasn't sure I was ready to talk with.

"Tricia, the car's ready," was all she managed to say before she stopped right in front of me, frozen.

She had done a lot of growing these past three years. Easily half a foot taller than she was when I left her, and with all her baby fat finally gone, she was now a very beautiful adolescent.

"Hi, Mel."

This is how Tricia and I are polar opposites. She can't speak with crowds, while I find my self completely speechless when talking with someone close to me face-to-face.

Unable to hold it in any longer, Melody rushed at me and held me in a tight embrace.

"I've missed you so much," she said.

"Same here," I answered, flashy words no longer needed.

At that very instant, I felt that despite the hard times brought about by the OEA and the rebellion, I could still be happy.

However, right at that moment, my blissful world came crashing down around me.

As I held Melody's warm embrace, I looked over her shoulder and chanced upon a plastic bottle, discarded and relatively worthless. It wasn't peculiar in shape either, but one thing really set it apart: it was floating. In an effort to block the panic trying to invade my mind, I forced my self to feel thankful for the fact that no one else was around at that moment.

With my worries in check, I pondered the possible causes of such an occurrence. I looked back at Melody as a thought entered my head along with a powerful tremble. However, I dismissed it faster than it was conceived and explained to myself that I was merely using the Force carelessly because of the strong emotions I felt that night, berating myself for letting my guard slip.

My explanation satisfied me for the duration of the night, but I soon came to realize that the calm I felt wouldn't last.

I assumed that Melody couldn't possibly be Force-sensitive, but was I ever wrong…


	5. Chapter 4: Shatter

Chapter 4: Shatter

With Melody still on my mind, I decided to have Kryss stay with her and Tricia aboveground. Even without the incident after Tricia's award ceremony, I still had planned on having Kryss rejoin society more often since I figured it'd do him some good to live a life that was a bit more normal, and having him up there with the girls let me hear about my family more often.

With all I was doing with the rebellion, my worries about Melody faded as time passed, but I could never really get it out of my head. It seemed that whenever I'd come close to forgetting the idea completely, some little thing I'd hear from Kryss's reports would point back to it.

He'd report a broken appliance once and a while, and strangely, almost every time he did, he'd also mention Melody being a bit moody the same day. Both of which he'd dismiss as normal, especially since mood-swings are so common in adolescents, but such instances were enough to make me lose sleep.

As the reports steadily became more frequent, Kryss started noting the strange coincidences, and I would think back to some similar occurrences I'd witnessed when she was younger. I remembered in particular one time when she was still small, she came to my room in the middle of the night saying that she had a bad dream, and the following morning, when I checked her room, I found that the room's temperature-control system went on the fritz.

Finally, about a year after I last saw Melody, all this came to a head.

0000000000

"...We have no choice to cease our transport operations, Roe. The new travel policies have made it practically impossible to keep smuggling Lex;s political criminals off-world. Getting them out would mean nothing short of hijacking a government shuttle."

"But it's a service people need, Brett. You know how many Lex has jailed on trumped-up charges. Escaping the planet's the only hope for justice for them and their families."

"Even if they manage to make it off-world, their chances of evading the Kaiburr Imperial forces are pretty slim. Either way, they'll end up rotting in Lex's cells. The best we can do is to provide them sanctuary here with us."

Roe was going to continue, but my comlink's beating interrupted him.

"Master, it's urgent. Dr. Spade and your daughter have been arrested," said Kryss's voice over the comlink.

"Under what charges?" I asked, trying to keep my cool as I pondered why I was always happened to be told of bad news via comlink.

"Melody had an... incident in her school. She took some pretty deep offense to something her teacher said in class about the rebellion. Things were flying everywhere; people saw her connection to the Force in plain sight. The police came soon after, but Melody and I were able to escape. We tried to meet with Tricia, but they got to her first. They took custody of us when we got to the rendezvous point, but I was barely able to escape. I won't be able to help them alone, master; I'm sorry."

"Return to HQ, Kryss. I'll deal with this alone."

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I never really wanted to join the rebellion, but I did. As much as I wanted to put down the sword and stop fighting, after that night at the press, I wanted to let Lex know that he wouldn't win. Just about everything I had done as part of the rebellion had been directed towards that desire, but none were so aligned to that direction as the actions I committed in the detention center they had taken Mel and Tricia to.

The detention center was small, no bigger than a primary school building. Lex had about half of the cells in these municipal stations converted into cells capable of holding Force-users, leaving the regular prisoners pretty tightly packed. The special cells were also usually the hardest to access in these facilities, so I knew I had a bit of a way to go to get to the two girls. I dodged the guards whenever I could, but the narrow corridors made that difficult; confrontation was inevitable.

I tried not to kill that night. Shii-Cho wasn't my preferred form, but it was what I fell back on when facing multiple enemies with projectile weapons. It was the simplest of the lightsaber forms and it emphasized disarming one's opponents. Most of the cuts and slashes I made connected with the muzzles of slugthrowers or blasters, but I wasn't perfect. Sometimes, a hand or limb would get lopped off along with the weapon it was grasping, and sometimes, a more vital body part would be severed.

Perfection wasn't my goal, saving my family was.

I finally found Mel and Tricia in one the bigger cells, the ones usually used for "VIPs."

_He meant it when he said he'd treat them well_, I thought as I opened the cell door.

Inside, I found Tricia sleeping soundly (Somehow, that didn't surprise me.) and Mel sitting near her.

"They drugged her," Mel explained.

Mel didn't seem hurt physically, not a scratch or bruise in plain sight, but for some reason, she still looked terrible.

"Try to wake her up," I told her, "I'll need her help getting out of here."

"You knew, didn't you?"

I sighed.

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Mel, please, we don't have much time. Can we-"

"NO!" she said, raising her voice.

I stepped back, pushed by both her voice and the ripple she sent through the Force.

"Why didn't you tell me, Brett? You could've trained me! If you'd told me, I would've been able to watch myself, and this whole thing could've been avoided!"

I couldn't speak. I knew she was right, but I couldn't put together an answer for her in words, much less one that would please her, and my silence, however, simply ended up agitating her even more. In her rage, she found enough power to summon Tricia's lightsaber through the Force. She ignited it and with the blinding yellow blade, charged at me.

Though I didn't expect Melody's attack, my senses were still fast enough to block her strike with my own lightsaber. She charged again, and I blocked three more of her clumsy strikes before jumping back and switching my weapon off.

"I was afraid," I finally answered her, "I never wanted you to have this kind of life, and I knew that if you really were Force-sensitive, this life is what you'd be doomed to live. I didn't let myself accept that you were until now. I've failed you, Mel, and I deserve to be punished for that, but please don't do this. Your anger will lead you to an even more difficult life.

Tears formed in her eyes, and the yellow blade disappeared. She cried, and I took her in my arms.

"Brett," she said between sobs, "I'm so sorry."

"I am too."

I held her for a few more moments before finally pushing her back.

"Listen," I said, "We can talk more about this later if you want, but right now, we have to hurry."

She did so but not before embracing me again.

That time, I almost couldn't let go.

0000000000

We couldn't wake Tricia, so I carried her on my back as we ran. I tried to deflect a few shots with my lightsaber, but a few bolts skidded dangerously near us. Finally, with the exit in sight and half the facility chasing us, I put Tricia down.

"Mel, take her and run. I'll follow."

"I won't le-"

"You won't. Just go!"

She hesitated for a moment but did as I said.

I took a deep breath. Channeling as much of the Force as I could, I sent a huge wave of energy at our pursuers, knocking several of them back. That gave me enough time to turn my attention to the ceiling. I pulled hard and dropped a pile rubble, just enough to block the narrow walkway. With the pursuers at bay, I turned towards the exit, Melody already at the other side, and ran.


	6. Chapter 5: Rest for the Weary

Chapter 6: Rest for the Weary

Tricia slept through the whole escapade at the prison complex, which I think she did just to spite me. We took her straight to the medical center when we got to HQ, but after she woke up, she never left, electing to stay behind and help tend to the patients there. Again, I felt she was spiting me with this decision since as a result, I left was alone in my room with my emotionally scarred daughter. Under any other circumstance, I would've relished the opportunity to catch up with Melody, but now, though I could sense she bore no more hard feelings towards me, I felt the tension whenever we'd be alone together was to thick for a lightsaber to cut.

If anyone got the worst out of this deal, it was her. She didn't even know she was breaking the law, yet she got arrested and became a wanted criminal like the rest of us. On top of that, she never had a chance to prepare herself for something like this since she never saw it coming. She had a life, and in one night, it was destroyed, and I'm practically the one responsible for it. I never prepared her for what I was to afraid to see coming.

_I_ took her life away.

_Faith, _I'd think at first, _I'm sorry. I let you down_,but then, one night, when I saw Mel toss in turn on her cold, unfamiliar new bed, my thoughts shifted from past to present.

_No, Grace isn't the one I should be apologizing to_, I realized, _Mel's the one I let down._

_Mel, I'm sorry._

I moved close to her and put a palm on her shoulder.

"Can't sleep?"

Her eyes flickered open and she smiled faintly.

"Not for lack of trying."

"I don't suppose you want a bedtime story."

"Not really, but I wouldn't mind hearing yours."

"Mine?"

"You said we'd talk, right?"

_And we got off to such a good start too…_

"Mel," I said with a sigh, "You have to understand that your connection to the Force was about as much a surprise to me when I found out less than a year ago as it is to you now. As far as I know, your sister wasn't Force-sensitive, so I had no reason to believe you were."

"That's not what I'm asking about," she said to my surprise, "I want to hear _your_ story. I had no idea you could do the things you did back at the prison."

"My story…" I echoed.

It wasn't that I didn't want to tell it; I just didn't know where to begin.

"You could try the _beginning_," she said.

If only it were that simple.

"It's… A pretty long story," I told her.

"C'mon, it can't be that long. You don't even look like you're thirty!"

I laughed.

"How old do you think I am, Mel?"

"I'd say… Mid-thirties?"

Another laugh.

"Hey, I'd guess better if we'd celebrate your birthday once in a while."

"Can't celebrate something I don't remember."

"You don't know when your birthday is?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

"When one has lived as long as I have, such things tend to disappear into time," I said, my voice sounding somewhat distant, mostly just to add effect, "Good thing too. It can get pretty depressing to remember."

Her dubious look was replaced by a curious yet slightly fearful one, the kind worn when an asker doesn't really want to know the answer to what was asked.

"How old _are _you?"

"Your first guess…" I said, groping around in my mind for the right words, "Was about right. If you were to scan my body, you'd find that I'm about thirty-three, give or take a few months. However, one learns as he delves into learning of the Force that we are far beyond the bodily and physical…"

"And?"

Giving up on tact, I surrendered.

"I can't give an exact number," I said, "But I'd say I'm about a few years past four thousand."

Then came the awkward silence I was expecting.

"Okay… how is that possible?"

"That's the complicated part."

I took a nice long breath before continuing.

"You see, Mel, I'm not the typical Force-user. I'm not even Brett Spade for that matter, for that is only the name given this body. I was first a Falleen called Ximon, and at one point of my life, I was considered…evil, so evil that I was second only to one other in the galaxy's entirety. I was Sith."

Another silence, one that I didn't wait to be broken this time.

"As all men corrupted by power do, my master and I sought more, and ultimately, our lust got the better of us. The power we had found nearly consumed us, and, lest that be allowed to happen, we chose death.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't the easy way out that we had thought it to be.

"You see, the Force has a will of its own and a sense of justice to go with it. Evil as we were, it had to punish us.

"We awakened outside of our bodies, which were destroyed by the evil we had unleashed, and in the very realm we had chosen to leave. We were given immortality, and ass good as that might've sounded at the time, it was a terrible punishment.

"As I've said, we are beyond the body, and as such, the body can be replaced. It had taken us some time to discover the secret, but it was not beyond my master and me. With the new bodies, we resumed living our selfish lives, but there was only so much marrow that we could suck out of life, and when we had had our fill, we found we simply could not move on. We were doomed to eternal life.

"My master realized this before I had, and sought a solution. We parted ways, and long before I had the same epiphany, I had lost touch with him.

"So I wondered the galaxy for a long time, looking for an answer that I knew could not be found. It must have at least been a millennium before I finally found my old master, or rather, before he found me.

"He had been cured, by doing some act of great goodness for his adopted people. I could tell he wasn't lying; his aura in the Force had completely changed from a dull black to the whitest white. So complete was his moral transformation that he had lost the very reason he wished to be redeemed. He no longer desired to move on and elected to stay in this galaxy, serving as a beacon light to all those who would need it, myself included.

"He was truly quite clever, my master, and powerful. While I had taken the first Falleen body I had come across, he waited patiently for something more… durable. With power beyond my reach to this day, he took a Kaiburr, and since he is definitely smart enough to avoid serious injury or illness, he probably never had to face the same stress of finding new bodies as I had.

"Every few hundred years or so, for the Force can only augment the body's lifespan for so long, I'd have to bind myself to another body. Since I quit being selective about species, repeating this process eventually led me to Brett, and, a few years later, to this very moment."

We both paused, I to catch my breath, and she to wrap her mind around my tale.

"I guess I can understand what you're saying," she said slowly, "Though I'm pretty sure I missed a few things."

Now I was dubious, wearing the raised eye brow Melody had copied from me.

"I'm impressed, Mel; it took Grace a lot longer to make sense of all this."

"Well, I guess you're more used to explaining it now."

_Good point._

"Did you ever see your master again after that last time?"

Inwardly, I felt a pang of jealousy build.

_She said she wanted to hear _my_ story,_ I thought before dismissing the childish thought.

"I do quite often actually though not in person," I answered, "You should be too, in fact, assuming that you keep up on current events. The Kaiburr he possessed all those years ago was none other than Joseph Adun, brother of Emperor Jacob Adun, prince of the Kaiburr Empire, and chief of the Kaiburr warrior clans."

"I do," she said, "The press always presents him as such an amazing person, practically a living saint."

"They're closer to the truth then they probably think then," I mused out loud.

Mel smiled.

"But then that, as his student, you'll probably end up like him as well."

I forced a chuckle, though it wasn't hard, Mel's naiveté being as cute as it was.

"I doubt I'll ever achieve what Revan had; I can only dream of being as powerful, let alone as good, as he is. I can't really bring myself to sacrifice so much as to let go of the realm beyond this one. I don't know how he did it, but I do know that this old nexu can probably never let go of his stripes."

That wasn't entirely true though. Somewhere along the line, I did gain hope in my own goodness from this girl named Faith. After she died, though, that hope disappeared.

Still, with Melody finally falling asleep beside me as I spoke those last words, I felt I could finally dare to hope once more.


End file.
